Ragnar Relay Weekend

We had the Ragnar Relay June 19 and 20th. We drove to Idaho on Wednesday so we had a little bit of extra time before the relay. Thursday evening we celebrated Mom's birthday and Father's Day since they were Saturday and Sunday and we didn't know how celebrations would go with the relay.

The relay was 188 miles from Logan to Park City. This is the second year we've done it. Our van consisted of Ryan, Cindy Austin, Tom Mortimer, myself, Lisa, and Cory Briscoe with Dad as our driver. The other van was Andrea, her dad - DuWayne, her sister - Kelsey, John Bilquist, Josh Hill, and Jordan. It's sad that we don't get to see the people in the other van very often so it was fun that it got mixed up a bit this year from last year.

The training can get a little demanding at times but the actual event is a lot of fun. We started Friday at 11:30 and ended 31 1/2 hours later. At the end of the race it was pouring rain and poor Lisa and Cory (the last two runners) definitely had some tough runs in the rain and it was cold by then as well. I didn't envy them a bit. You will see from my picture that I was grateful to be done after I had completed each of my legs. I also need to thank Mom, Shari, and Aaron who took care of Nyah so Ryan and I could both run. Thanks! I "borrowed" the pictures below from an amazing journal Cindy and Andrea put together. I think Shari has more pictures so I might end up editing this post and adding those as well. :)

This is Nyah...

So here are some typical pictures of Nyah these days. The first one is her doing "thumbs up". The picture is obviously blurry but I can't get her to hold still these days! She did this for Ryan lots last weekend because Ryan made his weight goal for his new life insurance policy. Congrats to Ryan! I never realized what a trick it is for kids to make their fingers do what they want them to do. :) It's cute. Anyway, she also does "two" and says "peace out". I love it.



The next is just her with a cute smile and you will also notice the stickers on my new oven. We have stickers in all sorts of interesting places. She absolutely loves stickers (and it's amazing what I can get her to do for a sticker)!

The last one is her playing the piano naked. She's done better the last week or so but for a while she didn't ever want to wear a diaper or a pull-up. She has been using the potty quite a bit and I figure we'll focus on it after this next weekend and the Ragnar relay.

So this last week at church she informed me during sacrament meeting that she needed to go potty so I took her out and sure enough, she did it (Ryan thinks it's amazing she can go every 30 minutes). Anyway, we're walking back into the chapel and she's still about 10 or 15 feet from Ryan when she says (not in a reverent church whisper but with a loud voice and lots of enthusiasm) "Daddy, I go potty!" Nice - in sacrament meeting. I'm sure we are quite the distraction at church these days...

We also bought Nyah a new swing set and until Ryan gets it built, this will have to do:

Hopefully we'll be able to start building this weekend. :) She keeps telling us how she wants her swing set and the days of hoping she will forget about things are long gone.

The Zoo at Last

It had been over 7 months since we had been to the zoo so we finally went again yesterday. We had told Nyah on Friday we would go to the zoo on Saturday so the first thing she said that morning was "zoo, go see animals". She loved it. We saw elephants, bears, monkeys, and she still liked the peacock just like the last time we went to the zoo. This time though the peacock opened up all its feathers. The elephant was also getting a drink out of a fire hose which was funny to see. We bought an annual pass to the zoo so we can go anytime. (Thanks Papa and Kaki) I've already decided there are distinct advantages because yesterday we could just leave without seeing everything since we can go back whenever we want to. :)

Plus here is a picture of her really enjoying a chocolate chip cookie from Paradise Bakery that she did not want to share with me. If any of you have tried them, you know why she didn't want to. :) I don't know where she got her love for chocolate chip cookies? It must not be me - let's blame Grandpa. :)

We were thinking about going camping this weekend but decided not to with the "sketchy" weather forecast. Camping in a tent in the rain just doesn't sound like that much fun to me. As we've watched the weather this weekend, we are glad we didn't go. We'll have to try that out another weekend.

Here are a couple of pictures of Nyah in a new dress today. Since I was sending her to nursery in a white dress, I figured I should get some pictures this morning in case the dress was never the same again. However, I'm happy to report it's still in great shape (good job to her nursery leaders) and the pictures weren't necessary before going to chuch today.

And last of all, this shows you what an adventure tub time is these days. She loves to color with her tub markers.

Kids say the cutest things!

This was last night:
Ryan - "Nyah it's time for bed."
Nyah - "Not yet"
Ryan - "When is it going to be time for bed?"
Nyah - "Tuesday"

A conversation with Nyah a few weeks ago:
Me - "Nyah are you happy?"
Nyah - "No."
Me - "Why not?"
Nyah - "I tired."
Me - "Maybe we should go home and go to bed then."
Nyah - "No, I not tired."

Amazing how quick they pick up on things!

A week ago we were going swimming and so I went upstairs to get Nyah's little innertube. She informed me the first one I picked up was "Hallie's". That must be the one Hallie used last time she was here. Then she went downstairs and told Ryan, "Hallie's coming." And Ryan said, "Oh yeah, when?" and Nyah responds with "Tuesday". I guess Tuesday is her new response to questions. What a funny girl!

Then last Friday we were having the missionaries over for dinner and I said to Nyah, "Guess who's coming over for dinner - the missionaires." Nyah said, "Aunt Jana?!" I told her I wish it was Aunt Jana but how cute that the first thing that comes to her mind when she hears the word "missionaries" is Aunt Jana. I'm sure Nyah can't remember Jana since she was only about a year old when she left but we show her pictures of Jana so she knows who she is. :)

We love hearing all the new things she has to say. What an adventure!

Water and Princess Day

They have turned on the water fountains and filled the "ponds" down at the park by our house. Now a trip to the park isn't complete without Nyah "wading" in the pond. She loves it. She sees the water and starts rolling up her pant legs. The water is still freezing cold at this point but she doesn't mind a bit. She doesn't mind when her pants end up getting wet either. She's just happy to be playing in the water. Both of us are happy for the warm weather we are having again. We'll see how long it lasts... Nyah and I went to the park again this evening and she ran a bunch of the way home so she'll sleep well tonight!

Saturday Ryan and I did a bunch of yard work and Nyah did a great job of entertaining herself. This ranged from just running around, to helping us, to sitting on the ground and throwing rocks at the garbage can. It's amazing what can be fun when you're two! Ryan and I were just grateful we were still able to get so much done.

On another topic, about a month ago at her school they had a week where every day was a different theme. Ryan told me the next day was "princess day" so I went and picked up a "costume". She loved being dressed up and her favorite part was definitely the "dress-up" shoes. Ryan took this picture when he dropped her off that day and it made me smile all day at work just thinking about it. :)


Nyah continues to use more and more sentences as she talks. It's fun to watch as she learns. Her new thing is she will tell us, "No talking". Where does that come from? She is also big into "wiping off" our kisses sometimes. What a kid. She cracks me up.